Xpecial's Benching Rocks the LCS Community.
Community isn't just a made-up word in eSports. It's part of
what drives the scene. Fans have access to players streams, feeds, and vlogs
and we're able to communicate with them on a very intimate level. We see them
in videos and interviews and in Riot's game day features, and we learn of their
struggles and dreams. In short, we don't just casually know the pros....we are
given the opportunity to love them. And when we speak of our community, it includes
them. They are family to us, and that's what makes it especially hard when we
hear of one being cut or benched.
The summer promotion series made this weekend tough enough -
losing two entire teams from the NA LCS -
but the most difficult news came after the studio lights had been turned off.
Late Sunday night, during TSM Xpecial's stream, he quietly mentioned he'd been
benched from the team. Fans in his chat room immediately assumed their beloved hamster was joking. TSM had just finished the season in second place after a highly
successful split. There was no way this could be possible. And yet something in
Xpecial's weak voice and sad eyes insisted his words were all too real.
Within minutes of his announcement, a Reddit thread was
started, repeating Xpecial's announcement, and worried fans swarmed his stream looking
for confirmation. Twitter started to light with speculation, questions and
doubts as more information trickled in.
"They're starting scrims tomorrow and I won't be
playing in them, so, head's up. It's not for performance..." Xpecial said,
addressing a question in this twitch chat. "It was mainly a management
decision. The team didn't have much say in it... I'm not sure what's going to
happen in the future. I don't want to speak on it more now."
Towards the end of his stream, Xpecial broke his silence to
give further confirmation. "I'm pretty trolly, but I'm not trolling about
this. People kept asking why I was home, and I don't like having to lie about it."
Word of the benching traveled fast among the LCS community,
and even Chaox made a sudden guest appearance in his ex-teammates chat. Xpecial
ended his stream saying, "I got benched because of attitude. It's not
something I'm completely against, I would say. I'm not 100% for it, but yeah, I just
think there should be an announcement."
Anger spread quickly among TSM's legion of fans, with
Reginald being their main target. Known for his occasionally antagonistic
manner, posters assumed TSM's manager had to be at the heart of this problem. Twitter chat
virtually exploded with an outpouring of love for Xpecial and heart felt
expressions of hurt and dismay. "Bench Xpecial? More like bench my fking
heart and feelings," one anguished twitter fan wrote. "Xpecial is the
sole reason I'm such a huge TSM fan. He's the reason I main support & he's
been my favorite pro forever," wrote another.
As the evening progressed, additional tweeters weighed in
with some plausible responses. "It's not the communities interest who the team
will keep and bench as players. I'm sure that Reginald has his teams interest
as #1 priority," CLG's Dexter suggested, and another writer agreed, "People
seem to forget that Regi is 3 for 3 on roster swaps improving the team. If he
thinks Xpecial needs to go, he probably does."
By 1:00 am, the
shocking news had spread throughout the eSports world. Flooded with tweets
from impassioned fans, #Xpecial started trending on twitter. "Just goes to
show how big TeamSoloMid and lolesports has gotten," someone posted.
"When Xpecial out trends Game of Thrones you know it's been a crazy day."
Reginald addressed the community on Facebook in
the wee hours of the morning, stating, "Xpecial was benched because of his
attitude. After hearing feedback from the entire team, I made the decision to
bench him. In this period of time, I hope that he will refocus and review his
actions. League of legends is a team game; just because you have the best
players on a team does not mean you have the best team. I have always made my
roster decisions based on the entire team's feedback and would never make a
business decision because of personal reasons."
While he gave a rational response to a frustrating
situation, it doesn't change the fact that we, as a tight knit family of fans,
strongly felt the repercussions. We're involved, and we care, and these stirring micro-dramas
are part of what has always made eSports so incredibly compelling. Thankfully, with
social media, we have the means with which to express our emotions. Xpecial might be
going through a rough patch tonight, but at least he knows he's loved. The
feels. They're for real. And we're all in this one together.
